How do you define nutrition?

Nutrition is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “The process of providing or obtaining the ‘food’ necessary for health and growth”.

As a parent, we have sole responsibility for providing ‘nutrition’ to our children. We physically put ‘food’ on their plates; into their bowls for breakfast, pack their lunchboxes and serve them dinner every night. We provide snacks between meals and cater for their parties.

In fact, from the moment our child is born, we play the principal role in their ‘nutritional’ education and surely, the most powerful message we share with them, is simply ‘leading by example’ every single day.

It is up to us to stay educated and nourish our children to help them live healthy and happy lives.

I read this incredible article yesterday and wanted to share it with our Nutrition for Life community.

I have come away with three messages and I hope you do, too!

While I have always believed in the nutritional benefits of ‘parenting love’ and have seen first hand, how our children have grown into beautiful caring young adults, nurtured by our love, this article made me rethink a couple of things …

It gave me a clear perspective on the importance of connection, at a time when, as parents, we can be so easily distracted by technology, social media and somehow our lives just keep getting busier and busier.

The ‘nutrition’ we give our children is more than just food and I needed to read this to remind myself to keep nourishing them, even though they have grown up and become young adults now.

Time goes so quickly. Our youngest is moving to Melbourne next week to set up her own home for the first time and I will miss her as I miss her older brother and sister.

Hold your child till they let go.
Always give your child eye contact when they talk to you.
Smile when they walk into the room”.

Perfect advice and a wonderful, gentle reminder, of what is really important in our lives!